Sanofi strengthens biosurgery offering with Pluromed acquisition
This article was originally published in Scrip
Sanofi has agreed to buy surgical gel developer Pluromed for an undisclosed fee, bolstering the biosurgical portfolio it gained with its acquisition of Genzyme last year.
Woburn, Massachusetts-based Pluromed's lead product, LeGoo, is a gel designed to temporarily stop blood flow through vessels being joined in surgery. This helps surgeons better visualise suture placement by keeping the surgical field free of blood. Traditionally, elastic loops and clamps are used for this purpose, but they can damage blood vessels and are not always effective.
The gel was approved by the US FDA in October for occlusion of blood vessels up to 4mm in diameter below the neck, which covers over 80% of all vascular and cardiovascular surgical procedures in the US that require temporary vascular occlusion, Pluromed estimates. LeGoo is also CE marked for sale in Europe.
LeGoo is liquid at room temperature and forms a plug when injected into a blood vessel; after surgery, the gel is dissolved by applying ice directly to the blood vessel or infusing cold saline. Once dissolved, the material will not re-gel.
Pluromed also markets BackStop, a device used to treat kidney stones, which received 510(k) clearance from the FDA in 2009. Also a gel, BackStop forms a plug during lithotripsy, a procedure that involves breaking up kidney stones. BackStop is designed to prevent kidney stone migration, which can make the lithotripsy procedure longer and more complicated, or can mean the patient needs further treatment. Afterwards, Backstop is dissolved with saline and excreted.
Sanofi's existing biosurgery offering includes Synvisc and Synvisc-One (hylan G-F 20), viscosupplements developed by Genzyme to treat pain associated with osteoarthritis of certain joints. Synvisc requires three injections, while the next-generation Synvisc-One requires a single injection. The products pulled in €87 millio in revenues during Sanofi's fourth fiscal quarter, up 15% on a constant currency basis, due to strong sales of Synvisc-One in the US and Japan.
Sanofi agreed to acquire Genzyme for $74 per share, or $20.1 billion in total, in February 2011 after six months of negotiations.
As well as gaining Genzyme's biosurgery portfolio and other products, including the orphan disease treatment Fabrazyme, Sanofi has also seen its sales boosted by the acquisition. The firm reported 2011 revenues of €33.4 billion ($43.9 billion), up 3%; €2.4 billion of this came from Genzyme (+8% on a constant currency basis). However, the Genzyme takeover pushed up R&D and SG&A costs, contributing to a 5% drop in adjusted net income to €8.8 billion.